B2B and B2C startups from various industries including financial services, healthcare, education, agriculture, space, manufacturing and logistics, retail and e-commerce can participate in the quarterly clusters of the programme.
Supported by TiE Mumbai, the launch The cohort will start in November 2021. The first cohort will focus on manufacturing and logistics and the second cohort will focus on fintech.
“AI is rapidly transitioning from artificial intelligence to augmented intelligence that ensures efficient, faster, more targeted experiences for all.
“AI has tremendous potential to improve people and institutions, understand customers more deeply, share information more quickly and enable scientific breakthroughs,” Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, said at a virtual event.
He said that India has the third largest AI startup ecosystem in the world.
“Adoption of AI can increase the Indian economy by more than USD 90 billion by 2035… In order to maximize the potential of AI and minimize its risks, we need to develop AI in such a way Who is responsible and promotes trust.
“As creators, users and advocates of technology, it is important for us to make careful choices so that the technology ultimately translates into benefits and opportunities for all,” Maheshwari said.
Trust is non-negotiable and everyone is accountable for creating a responsible, trustworthy and ethical tech ecosystem, he said.
Through its latest initiative, Microsoft will focus on providing tech and business opportunities to startups to improve their solutions, transform organizations and build responsibly to make AI accessible to all, Maheshwari said. he said.
The program will also enable startups with Microsoft’s sales and partner network to reach new customers and geographies.
Selected startups in each group will have access to industry deep-dive sessions and AI masterclasses by industry experts, mentoring by unicorn founders, skills and certification opportunities, among other benefits.
For a technical and business audience, the event will bring together leading-edge technical know-how, global GTM (go to market) partnerships as well as engineering and research experts from Microsoft.
Qualified Seed to Series B startups will be provided with technology enablement benefits, which include Azure benefits (in addition to free cloud credits) and product engineering support, among other benefits. They will also be supported by needs to accelerate business and sales, such as marketplace onboarding.
Startups with enterprise-ready solutions will be provided opportunities to build their solutions with a dedicated team of professionals.
They will also get co-selling benefits along with go-to-market support with Microsoft’s sales team and partner ecosystem. Startups will also get access to top partner and client programs to strengthen their networking reach.